Nutritional Information

Now that you know aspartame is harmful, how do
you restore your health from the damage aspartame
has caused? Itís hard to fight what you canít
see, and even harder to convince your doctor that
aspartame is indeed the source of your health
problems.

There are basic steps to take when restoring
needed nutrients at the root of wellness, but
remember that good nutrition CAN reclaim good
health, even for diabetics and people with permanent
health issues.

Sign up for my health newsletter, every article
I share with you will contain interesting information
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Follow my basic nutritional program and you will be
on your way to independence and control of your life.

Clinical Experiences

As a nutritionist, over ninety percent of my clients
experience some form of health problem associated with
aspartame: weight gain, hair loss, severe medical ailments,
eating disorders, mental disorders, fatigue. Some readily
eliminate aspartame from their diets and their symptoms
quickly disappear. But, many are addicted to aspartame
and are unable to withdraw from diet products without
suffering severe headaches, cramping, nausea and diarrhea.
They require a withdrawal program similar to those for
alcohol and drugs.

The clinical nutritional work I do today is the direct
result of all I experienced during my reaction to aspartame.
I have learned that withdrawal from aspartame not only
requires exceptional nutritional counseling, but significant
emotional support, as well.

The Basic Steps:

The basic steps to good nutrition are initially the
same:

Read food labels and avoid all aspartame.
Aspartame is in over five-thousand NutraSweet
products. That's a lot of labels to read. Presently,
aspartame is found in countless products without
the familiar NutraSweet swirl. Since The NutraSweet
Company's patent expired in the early 1990s,
generic aspartame can be found anywhere.

Drink bottled water. Water is the most important
life-giving substance in the body, and one the
body desperately depends on. For those of you
who have a diet drink in your hand all day at
work, shame on you! You're drinking far too
many colas and not enough water. Carry bottled
water around instead. On the average, a human
eliminates eight cups of water a day. Put back
into your body what you give up. Iced tea, diet
drinks, coffee or powdered punch don't count
as a water source. Pure water is what the body
must have to properly flush toxins from your
system.

Get a mineral hair analysis. Vitamin and mineral
levels inside your body register in the hair
fibers. Toxins also show up in the hair. I recommend
everyone have at least one hair analysis in
their lifetime. A blood test identifies your
blood type; a hair analysis shows what's inside
the body. It reveals what vitamins and minerals
you need, and possibly what toxins have accumulated
within the tissues. Toxins stimulate allergies
and can cause disease.

Eat raw. If there's only time to grab quick
food, keep lots of fresh vegetables, natural,
dry cheeses, whole-grain crackers, pickles,
natural yogurts, Tofu, fruits and nuts, bottled
water and fresh juice on hand. You may have
to shop more often because the 'real stuff'
spoils more quickly, but that's because it's
loaded with enzymes and live nutrients - nutrients
that do something for your health. Raw, steamed,
natural, and fresh! A nutritious quick meal.
Plus, eat all you want. It's hard to gain weight
eating only natural foods.

Think of your food plate as a 'pie.' Seventy-five
percent of that pie should be raw or steamed
every meal. These 'fundamental' foods provide
all the digestive enzymes the body needs, as
well as the vitamins and minerals required to
trigger the digestive chain reaction.

Lay out a variety of fresh snacks after school
or work. Apples, oranges, raw nuts in the shell.
Eat big meals early in the day. At night, your
body processes what's left-over. Try not to
eat heavy food past five or six o'clock in the
evening. For an evening snack, pop popcorn in
cold-pressed seed oil with a little natural
butter and sea-salt or drink a fruit smoothie.

Maintain good digestion. Manufactured foods
inhibit proper digestion. Supplement with a
digestive enzyme rich in betaine hydrochloride,
papaya, a raw lemon, or a rich red wine to aid
digestion. Proper digestion is critical to good
health. Digestion is where 'eating right and
good health' begins. If you have stomach problems,
you can support the stomach lining by eating
raw cabbage at least three times a week to keep
the stomach lining thick and healthy.

Eat natural foods as opposed to manufactured,
chemical foods. Natural foods supply fuel needed
to stay healthy, to keep your body moving, and
to stay mentally alert. Food converts to raw
energy. All food passes through the same set
of reactions, whether it's processed, fast food
or a raw, organic carrot. WHAT the food provides
is the issue. Is your food rich in natural nutrients
or is it full of chemical fillers and toxic
by-products designed to 'fake' out the body
so you won't gain weight? Natural or fake, you
decide.

Exercise! Move your body everyday. It doesn't
matter what you do, just do something. Your
body will depend on the consistency, and that's
good. Exercise is a good way to replace bad
habits, too. If you want to quit smoking, let's
say, replace the habit with exercise. Find what
type of exercise you will adopt permanently
into your life, and never quit. Biking around
the neighborhood after work, walking around
the block before the day begins, swimming ten
laps every day, rowing while you watch the evening
news, whatever - your body will depend on it.

Avoid fake foods. Vitamin and mineral rich
foods are what I refer to as natural foods.
They are mandatory to maintain good health.
Fat-free, sugar-free doesn't provide 'natural.'
When your food doesn't offer natural vitamins,
your body has to supply them. When these supplies
are depleted, you must replenish them. Not in
fast food lines, not with diet colas, never
with fake food substitutes, but with natural
foods. Only with vitamin and mineral rich foods
can you sustain a good supply of the 'parts
that keep the machinery going.

Use saccharin before Equal® if you must
use an artificial sweetener. Many doctors, dentists,
dietitians, and consumers support the relative
safety of saccharin. Ultimately, I recommend
using stevia or unprocessed sugar over saccharin.
Remember, use natural products instead of artificial
ones.

What can you do about aspartame?

Set an example by changing your diet.

Tell everyone you know.

Talk to the schools and day care centers. Offer
to speak at parent-teachers meetings.

Contact your local, state, and Federal government
representatives.

If you see someone with a diet drink, ask if they
have had any of the typical aspartame symptoms.

Register a complaint with the FDA, the FAA, the
NutraSweet Kelco Company.

Return all food products with aspartame, opened
or unopened, to your grocer. Tell him/her the products
make you sick. The grocer can return them to the manufacturer
for a store refund. The manufacturer should get the
message. So, will the grocer.

Spread the word on computer networks.

Publish articles in newsletters at your church,
place of work, or neighborhood association.

Set a personal example for health and wellness.

Become aware of all unnecessary chemicals hidden in
your foods. Be a food detective. Purify your diet as
much as possible, and try to enjoy natural eating. Drink
more purified water than any other beverage. Cut back
on artificial food substitutes. Get back to the basics
of eating and exercise regularly.

Phenylalanine is one of the essential amino acids found
in proteins, but I am one of the believers that amino
acids should be eaten in combination, not isolated form.
Nature provides amino acids in combination, only man
isolates them for processing purposes.

Phenylalanine is found naturally in foods such as eggs,
milk, bananas, and meat. If you are PKU or sensitive
to phenylalanine, you will react to the phenylalanine
in aspartame. You many want to get a blood test to check
for this condition. Over the past 20 years, humans have
become more aware of PKU reactions because human beings
began using isolated phenylalanine to the degree it
is harmful to some individuals. My suggestion would
be to research PKU and phenylalanine extensively. Phenylalanine
can be very harmful to diabetics.

Read all food labels and avoid anything with isolated
amino acids. You want to buy products with at least
eight amino acids in combination.

CSPI REPORTS Food Additives to Avoid (listed alphabetically)

Acesulfame K

Known commercially as Sunette or Sweet One, acesulfame
is a sugar substitute sold in packet or tablet form,
in chewing gum, dry mixes for beverages, instant coffee
and tea, gelatin desserts, puddings and non-dairy creamers.
Tests show that the additive causes cancer in animals,
which means it may increase cancer in humans. Avoid
acesulfame K and products containing it. Your sweet
tooth isn't worth it.

Artificial colorings

The great bulk of artificial colorings used in food
are synthetic dyes. For decades synthetic food dyes
have been suspected of being toxic or carcinogenic and
many have been banned. Whenever possible, choose foods
without dyes. They're mostly used in foods of questionable
nutritional worth anyway. Natural ingredients should
provide all the color your food needs.

Aspartame

This sugar substitute, sold commercially as Equal and
NutraSweet, was hailed as the savior for dieters who
for decades had put up with saccharine's unpleasant
after taste. There are quite a few problems with aspartame.
The first is phenylketonuria (PKU). One out of 20,000
babies is born without the ability to metabolize phenylalanine,
one of the two amino acids in aspartame. Toxic levels
of this substance in the blood can result in mental
retardation. Beyond PKU several scientists believe that
aspartame might cause altered brain function and behavior
changes in consumers. And many people (though a minuscule
fraction) have reported dizziness, headaches, epileptic-like
seizures, and menstrual problems after ingesting aspartame.

Avoid aspartame if you are pregnant, suffer from PKU,
or think that you experience side affects from using
it. If you consume more than a couple of servings a
day consider cutting back. And, to be on the safe side,
don't give aspartame to infants.

BHA & BHT

These two closely related chemicals are added to oil-containing
foods to prevent oxidation and retard rancidity. The
International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of
the World Health Organization, consider BHA to be possibly
carcinogenic to humans, and the State of California
has listed it as a carcinogen. Some studies show the
same cancer causing possibilities for BHT.

BHT and BHA are totally unnecessary. To avoid them
read the label. Because of the possibility that BHT
and BHA might cause cancer, both should be phased out
of our food supply. To play it safe, phase them out
of your diet.

Caffeine

Caffeine is found naturally in tea, coffee, and cocoa.
It is also added to many soft drinks. It is one of the
few drugs -- a stimulant -- added to foods. Caffeine
promotes stomach-acid secretion (possibly increasing
the symptoms of peptic ulcers), temporarily raises blood
pressure, and dialates some blood vessels while constricting
others. Excessive caffeine intake results in "caffeinism,"
with symptoms ranging from nervousness to insomnia.
These problems also affect children who drink between
2 to 7 cans of soda a day. Caffeine may also interfere
with reproduction and affect developing fetuses. Experiments
on lab animals link caffeine to birth defects such as
cleft palates, missing fingers and toes, and skull malformations.

Caffeine is mildly addictive, which is why some people
experience headaches when they stop drinking it. While
small amounts of caffeine don't pose a problem for everyone,
avoid it if you are trying to become or are pregnant.
And try to keep caffeine out of you child's diet.

Note: Caffeine can be ingested in cases of severe migraine
headaches to quickly relieve pain due to its dilating
effects.

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)

Early in this century a Japanese chemist identified
MSG as the substance in certain seasonings that added
to the flavor of protein-containing foods. Unfortunately,
too much MSG can lead to headaches, tightness in the
chest, and a burning sensation in the forearms an the
back of the neck. If you think you are sensitive to
MSG, look at ingredient listings. Also, avoid hydrolyzed
vegetable protein, or HVP, which may contain MSG.

Nitrite and Nitrate

Sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate are two closely related
chemicals used for centuries to preserve meat. While
nitrate itself is harmless, it is readily converted
to nitrite. When nitrite combines with compounds called
secondary amines, it forms nitrosamines, extremely powerful
cancer-causing chemicals. The chemical reaction occurs
most readily at the high temperatures of frying. Nitrite
has long been suspected as being a cause of stomach
cancer. Look for nitrite-free processed meats -- some
of which are frozen, refrigeration reduces the need
for nitrites -- at some health food and grocery stores.
But regardless of the presence of nitrite or nitrosamines,
the

high-fat, high-sodium content of most processed meats
should be enough to discourage you from choosing them.
And don't cook with bacon drippings.

Olestra

Olestra, the fake fat recently approved by the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA), is both dangerous and
unnecessary. Olestra was approved over the objection
of dozens of leading scientists.

The additive may be fat-free but it has a fatal side-effect:
it attaches to valuable nutrients and flushes them out
of the body. Some of these nutrients -- called carotenoids
-- appear to protect us from such diseases as lung cancer,
prostate cancer, heart disease, and macular degeneration.
The Harvard School of Public Health states that "the
long-term consumption of olestra snack foods might therefore
result in several thousand unnecessary deaths each year
from lung and ,prostate cancers and heart disease, and
hundreds of additional cases of blindness in the elderly
due to macular degeneration. Besides contributing to
disease, olestra causes diarrhea and other serious gastrointestinal
problems, even at low doses."

FDA certified olestra despite the fact that there are
safe low-fat snacks already on the market. There is
no evidence to show that olestra will have any significant
effect on reducing obesity in America.

Despite being approved as safe by the FDA, all snacks
containing olestra must carry a warning label (similar
to one found on cigarettes) that states:

This Product Contains Olestra. Olestra may cause abdominal
cramping and loose stools. Olestra inhibits the absorption
of some vitamins and other nutrients. Vitamins A, D,
E, and K have been added.

CSPI advises consumers to avoid all olestra foods,
and urges major food manufacturers not to make olestra-containing
products.

Potassium Bromate

This additive has long been used to increase the volume
of bread and to produce bread with a fine crumb (the
non-crust part of bread) structure. Most bromate rapidly
breaks down to form innocuous bromide. However, bromate
itself causes cancer in animals. The tiny amounts of
bromate that may remain in bread pose a small risk to
consumers. Bromate has been banned virtually worldwide
except in Japan and the United States. It is rarely
used in California because a cancer warning is required
on the label.

Sulfites

Sulfites are a class of chemicals that can keep cut
fruits and vegetables looking fresh. They also prevent
discoloration in apricots, raisins, and other dried
fruits; control "black spot" in freshly caught shrimp;
and prevent discoloration, bacterial growth, and fermentation
in wine. Until the early 80's they were considered safe,
but CSPI found six scientific studies proving that sulfites
could provoke sometimes severe allergic reactions. CSPI
and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) identified
at least a dozen fatalities linked to sulfites. All
of the deaths occurred among asthmatics. In 1985 Congress
finally forced FDA to ban sulfites from most fruits
and vegetables. Especially if you have asthma, be sure
to consider whether your attacks might be related to
sulfites. The ban does not cover fresh-cut potatoes,
dried fruits, and wine.